The cost of the police investigation into riots in Wolverhampton, West Bromwich and Birmingham is closer to £10million than the £12m first feared, it has been revealed.

The unprecedented scenes of disorder in August – which saw more than 600 arrests being made – sparked the biggest single investigation by West Midlands Police since the IRA bombings of Birmingham in 1974.

The original policing costs, estimated last month, were thought to be around £12m. But police chiefs now think the final amount will be lower.

Chief Constable Chris Sims, the head of the force, told West Midlands Police Authority yesterday that he believed the final figure was towards “the bottom end” of those first calculations.

He said: “From what we’ve done so far the final figure for the cost of policing will be towards the bottom end of the scale, nearer £10m.”

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